Message in Spanish, Vietnamese
SAN JOSE, CA - Santa Clara County Office of Education has joined with the County of Santa Clara to announce that two school sites within Santa Clara County, James Lick High School in the East Side Union High School District and Christopher High School in the Gilroy Unified School District are now designated as community testing sites for COVID-19.
Increasing the amount of testing is an important step in returning to in-person operations. In accordance with Governor Gavin Newsom’s recent announcement, COVID-19 testing sites will now be available throughout the state, and focused on serving communities that would not have had access to testing. School sites are easily accessible to their communities and have the space and capacity to provide testing on a larger scale.
“Since school closures, our facilities and staff have helped many students and families with basic needs including meal service, distance learning resources and childcare for essential workers,” said Dr. Mary Ann Dewan, County Superintendent of Schools at the Santa Clara County Office of Education. “We are encouraged by this message of hope today regarding COVID-19 testing. I am so grateful for this unified effort with county and city leaders to serve our community and thankful for the leadership and partnership of Superintendent of East Side Union High School, Chris Funk, and Gilroy Unified Superintendent Debbie Flores as well as other school districts, county and city offices.”
The COVID-19 testing site at James Lick High School will be opened as of Wednesday, May 6. Testing will be available Monday through Friday from 7:00am to 7:00pm, and each site will have the capacity to serve up to 132 individuals daily. Testing at the two new sites will be by appointment only. To schedule an appointment, individuals can call 1-888-634-1123 or visit lhi.care/covidtesting. The screening and testing criteria are based on State guidelines and may be updated to reflect the latest guidance. Testing at Christopher High School in the Gilroy Unified School District is scheduled to open the week of May 11th.
“Christopher High School in the Gilroy Unified School District has been selected as the South County COVID-19 testing site and will open next week,” says Superintendent Debbie Flores of the Gilroy Unified School District. “Increasing the number of people tested for COVID-19 is a critical step in identifying how many people have it in our community so that they can be treated early and more contact tracing can follow. I am pleased that our district can play an important role in this process and look forward to working cooperatively with our partners at the County, Public Health and County Office of Education.”
Santa Clara County School Board President, Claudia Rossi said, “We are extremely grateful and encouraged that Santa Clara County school sites in South County have been chosen to facilitate this process and hope that it has a greater impact on slowing the spread of this disease.”
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About the Santa Clara County Office of Education
Working collaboratively with school and community partners, the Santa Clara County Office of Education (SCCOE) is a regional service agency that provides instructional, business, and technology services to the 31 school districts of Santa Clara County. The County Office of Education directly serves students through special education programs, alternative schools, Head Start and State Preschool programs, migrant education, and Opportunity Youth Academy. The SCCOE also provides academic and fiscal oversight and monitoring to districts in addition to the 22 Santa Clara County Board of Education authorized charter schools.
